Arne Høygaard (15 January 1906 – 16 December 1981) was a Norwegian

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

and

Arctic explorer Arctic exploration is the physical exploration of the Arctic region of the Earth. It refers to the historical period during which mankind has explored the region north of the Arctic Circle. Historical records suggest that humankind have explored ...

Biography

Høygaard was born in

Lillesand Lillesand () is municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Sørlandet. The administrative center of the municipality is the town of Lillesand. Some of the larger villages in Lillesand municipality include ...

. After completing school in 1924, he went to sea for one year. In 1925, he commenced his medical studies at

Oslo University The University of Oslo (; ) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick University, the university was established in 1811 as the de facto Norwegian conti ...

. He worked at

Ullevål Hospital Ullevaal Stadion () is an all-seater football stadium located in Oslo, Norway. It is the home ground of the Norway national football team, and the site of the Norwegian Cup Final. From its opening in 1926 to 2009 it was the home ground of ...

in Oslo, at Haukeland Hospital in

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

, and at the physiological institute of Oslo University before gaining his doctorate in 1941. Høygaard participated in several Arctic expeditions. In 1928, he want to

Spitsbergen Spitsbergen (; formerly known as West Spitsbergen; Norwegian language, Norwegian: ''Vest Spitsbergen'' or ''Vestspitsbergen'' , also sometimes spelled Spitzbergen) is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipel ...

together with O.J. Broch and Eyvind Fjeld to study the island's geography. He returned the following year with

Martin Mehren Martin Mehren (8 August 1905 – 2 October 2002) was a Norwegian businessperson and sportsperson. He was born in Kristiania (now Oslo), Norway. He was the son of merchant Herman Mehren (1875-1941) and Agnethe Ingberg (1882-1937), and was an ...

and Olav Staxrud. In 1931, Høygaard and Mehren crossed

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

's ice sheet from

Uummannaq Uummannaq is a town on Uummannaq Island in the Avannaata municipality, in central-western Greenland. With 1,407 inhabitants in 2020, it is the eighth-largest town in Greenland, and is home to the country's most northerly ferry terminal. Foun ...

Nordfjord Nordfjord (—in contrast to Sunnfjord) is a traditional district in Vestland county, Norway. Geography The region is located in the northern part of Vestland county in Western Norway. It centers on the Nordfjorden and it comprises Stad Muni ...

by dog-sled. Together with his wife, Unni Munthe Wulfsberg, as well as Harald Waage Rasmussen and Edward Falsen-Krohn, he spent the winter of 1936–1937 studying the

Inuit Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwe ...

residents at

Angmagssalik Tasiilaq, formerly Ammassalik or Angmagssalik ( Danish names: Kong Oscars Havn or simply Oscarshavn), is a town on Ammassalik Island in southeastern Greenland, within the municipality of Sermersooq. With 1,985 inhabitants as of 2020, it is the ...

(now Tasiilaq). During the

German occupation of Norway The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany during the Second World War began on 9 April 1940 after Operation Weserübung. Conventional armed resistance to the German invasion ended on 10 June 1940, and Nazi Germany controlled Norway until th ...

, Høygaard joined the far-right

Nasjonal Samling The Nasjonal Samling (, NS; ) was a Norway, Norwegian far-right politics, far-right political party active from 1933 to 1945. It was the only legal party of Norway from 1942 to 1945. It was founded by former minister of defence Vidkun Quisling a ...

. He was charged with

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state (polity), state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to Coup d'état, overthrow its government, spy ...

in 1948, after which he fled the country to

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, where he continued to work as a physician in the town of Cachi. In 1950, Høygaard took part in the first ascent of

Nevado de Cachi Nevado de Cachi is the name given to a large complex of mountains that lies in Salta Province, Argentina. This complex counts several summits, the highest being 6,380m and it is called Cumbre Libertador. This summit was climbed for the first time ...

, the second highest peak of which is now named after him. He died in 1981.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Høygaard, Arne 1906 births 1981 deaths People from Lillesand University of Oslo alumni Norwegian expatriates in Argentina Norwegian exiles Norwegian physicians Explorers of the Arctic Members of Nasjonal Samling Nazis who fled to Argentina People charged with treason